At a Loss for Words
It started to rain and so I looked for shelter
on the porch of an abandoned house
on the other side of a twisted and fallen
barbed wire fence and I settled down
on the verandah out of the storm
It wasn’t long before the rain stopped
and it was getting late, and soon one by one
these crazy bats darted out from under
the sagging eaves of the house
to dive and zigzag into the twilight
At long last, I fell asleep, eyes fixed on
the hypnotic stream of passing cars, and
it might’ve been the best night’s sleep — I woke
with the sun rising over the low lying hills
and discovering a silver bicycle lying in the grass
a few feet from the building
I couldn’t resist — I lifted it from the tall grass
and straddled it and the tires were still good
and I began to pedal it down a stony old lane
that led from the front of the weather-beaten
farmhouse to a ruined apple orchard
and if I could’ve remembered a simple refrain
from any Broadway musical, I might’ve roused
these languorous forgotten trees awake
and made them dance with me as I rode
a crooked path to celebrate the morning light
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